Clean Wisconsin Hosts Wind Farm Bus Tour for Calumet County Residents

(Chilton, WI) On Saturday, over 100 Calumet County citizens, many of them local elected officials, got a

firsthand look at the type of wind turbines that are being considered for projects in Calumet County. The

group traveled to Bureau County, Illinois, near Peoria, to visit the Crescent Ridge Wind Farm, a 33-turbine

installation that generates 54 megawatts of electricity.

The bus trip was organized by Clean Wisconsin to give Calumet residents the opportunity to see wind

turbines up close and to talk with Illinois landowners about their experiences with wind development.

Project developers were on hand to answer questions about the technology, and local planning and zoning

officials discussed land use and the steps involved in siting the turbines. Calumet County is in the process

of determining whether to allow wind projects to move forward there.

“There’s been a lot of controversy in Calumet County about these projects, and a lot of misinformation,”

said Ryan Schryver, who organized the tour for Clean Wisconsin. “We just wanted to give folks a chance

to see for themselves, and make up their minds based on what they see.”

While seeing for themselves was important, hearing for themselves was even more critical for many on the

tour. As they stood directly beneath the giant towers, participants expressed surprise that the Illinois

turbines were not as noisy as they expected, even though it was a very windy day and the machines were

operating at maximum capacity during the visit. In fact, the wind itself was louder than the sound of the

sweep of the turbine rotors.

“It was very valuable to go down there,” said Chilton resident Dale Voskuil, who is a member of a

committee that was formed to consider the future of wind projects in Calumet County. “People get a lot of

ideas about wind turbines off the internet, and you don’t know what’s true and what’s not. We need to use

our senses instead of the internet.”